Metaversity

“But there was no question in Jung’s mind that psychology had replaced theology. Indeed, he believed that twentieth-century man had devised a psychology precisely because theology no longer provided any explanation of the world or any comfort for the soul. Jung”
― Vine Deloria Jr., C.G. Jung and the Sioux Traditions


I pretended to start to shovel the snow from my driveway. Within a minute, my sons came out and said, "Get inside you old fool!" Thus, sitting inside and watching them the wondows, my mind reverted back to some thoughts I had last night, while reading DU.

It was one OP/thread in particular, where there was a clear difference of opinion between members of two sides. Because I like and respect a number of people from both sides, it made interesting reading. I thought there were a number of valid points raised by each. My issue was the hostility some had with others' opinions, for that prevents a good conversation from progressing to higher ground.

At the same time, I recognized that maybe I owned the problem. I tend to prefer serious and respectful conversations, where the good people here do not insult others or their opinions. This is not to say that I have not at times obnoxious and snarky, as well as wrong numerous times during the now 20+ years I have participated here.

This reminded me of Deloria's last of 22 books, quoted above. As with Jung, I have respect for Deloria's insights on the human condition. How different people interpret the world around them in very different ways, with most thinking their perceptions are right. And that there is a right and wrong in virtually everything.

Reading the thread, I was wondering why no one mentioned the amygdala? Would that not have resulted in someone mentioning psychologist Daniel Goleman's book, "Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ.," (1995) The amygdala is the part of the brain that causes the fight, flight, or freeze response in human beings. It goes way back, and in the natural world helped make sure our species survived.

Now, in what the prophet Bob Marley called the "concrete jungle," one can debate if that response system serves as functional a purpose as it did when we were on the savanna. Now add first television, and then the internet. The sub-species of humanity know as teenagers, for example, do not have full development of the part of the brain found in their foreheads, which has the potential to keep the species going.

More, we all grow up in different circumstances. We develop different talents. Young people today invest a great deal of time on the internet andor playing various games due to technologies that were not around when I was growing up. Some young people appear to be addicted to their electronic devices. So again, we are looking at brain chemistry.

If, for sake of discussion, we take the example of a girl less than 16 (as in the OP/thread noted), who is on the "metaverse." I had to ask my boys what that is. Now, there are significant differences between, say, a girl at 12 and 15. But let's say she is inhabiting the metaverse, and to avoid meanigless arguing, let's say in her mind's eye, she is attacked by a bear.

The attack is unexpected. Thus, the girl's amygdala will release the same chemicals as if it were a real bear. She will experience the fight, flight, or freeze response. There is no bear, making it distinct from those events where a real bear attacks someone. But the girld's brain will produce the same chemical reaction as it initially would if the bear was real. And it will not process it the same afterwards as an adult's brain would.

Even within the adult population, brains respond differently to "danger." Those with previous successful experience with threatening situations tend to process them by way of the prefrontal cortex. For example, I was outstanding when it came to crises in the mental health clinic and in community crisis response. I was on the phone talking with an attorney one afternoon, when a co-worker told me someone with a knife was in the building, saying he was going to kill the director of community services. Bring a knife, and I'll hold you down for the five minutes it takes law enforcement to get there. (I remember calling the lawyer back, and his asking, "You did what?&quot

I only had one fellow call the clinic to tell me he planned to shoot me when I walked to my vehicle that evening. Gracious! He kept saying, "I'm crazy!" This resulted in my bringing forth my inner- Liam Neeson and explaining that not only was I crazy, too, but that I had a very particular set of skills. (Note: I'm alive, and he is in state prison for trying to carbomb his wife and children.)

Having a gun -- especially pointed at me -- and "flee" kicked in. I wasn't that stupid. This may come as a surprise to many in the DU community. There are still marks on a wall in the county office building from when two freaks with a shotgun were holding workers hostage. Let law enforcement deal with that.

As I've noted, adult brains operate differently, depending upon a wide variety of things. So there are differences of opinion within something as large as the Democratic Party. We are not a flock of sheep like the republican party. We see how easily moral rabies has spread among the mono-party.

It's said that our diversity is our strength. But that isn't so, when we do not recognize and respect that others in the party gold very different views. We need to be aware that when the danger of darkness is the greatest -- and watching an hour of the news suggests we are there now -- individuals seek out their own kind. We need to move beyond the amygdala, and use our frontal cortex so that we do not become divided.

I'm tempted to go into a discuss of group rights, that Vine Deloria spoke of in his second-to-the-last book, "We Talk, You Listen." As he notes, group rights are mentioned in the Constitution, though it requires a very close reading of the great document. But this essay, in response to a message an old friend sent this morning, is too long already. If anyone has read this far, it is equal to climbing to the top of Mt. Everest.